Wedding Planning – Part 2
Part 2 - Venue Styling, Food & Entertainment
Our “Win a Wedding” competition winners David & Kelly are busy planning their big day, which will take place in March 2021.
We caught up with them to find out more about their wedding plans, including their chosen wedding menu and the all important entertainment!
How are you dressing the venue?
With lots of flowers, candles and fairy lights! We discussed with Shelley from Ambience, how to have the tables dressed to really accentuate the theme and romantic feel. Then, during the evening reception, we’ll have some paper lanterns hanging over the dancefloor.
Our main feature throughout the day will be a moon-gate entwined with flowers and hanging light-globes. Our friends and family should like that as a back-drop for their photos!
As we both love wine and you walk through the hotel’s wine cellar, we’ll have a wooden step-ladder with wine bottles printed with the table plan as a focal display. Also, in the entrance room will be three gold-hoops each with suspended photos of us and our loved ones – we hope these will be a talking point for guests.
Tell us about the cake you have chosen
Fran from Every Cloud Cakes & Bakes is creating a 3-tier cake that’s made up of three flavours – top tier is a lemon and elderflower cake; the middle tier is a chocolate Guinness cake and the bottom tier is a carrot and orange cake. It’ll be simply decorated with rustic buttercream finish and fresh spring flowers (asparagus fern, eucalyptus leaves and white asters with sunflower yellow centres) and displayed on a gold-hoop cake stand – we can’t wait to see it!
Have you selected the food you and your guests will be eating?
Yes, and we’re so pleased with our menu. The tasting afternoon at the Devonshire Arms was terrific, and the food is really delicious.
We’ve chosen:
Starter: Celeriac - Salt baked celeriac, Hen of the woods mushroom, black garlic, smoked ricotta
Main: Beef - Pot roasted beef cheek, heritage carrot, potato gratin, charred broccoli
Dessert: Lemon - Glazed lemon tart, raspberry sorbet
Our guest will enjoy a trio of canapes during the drinks reception; crab doughnut, game sausage roll and Wensleydale toasties!
What kind of music have you selected?
Beginning the day will be a pianist, Matthew Schofield, who will play the grand piano for guests as they arrive.
Our ceremony will feature a violin instrumental of one of our favourite love songs but we’re keeping it a surprise, just like our first dance song!
Our friends Lucy Mae and Luc Phan – a vocalist and guitarist – will keep the guests entertained during the drink’s reception. Lucy has a gorgeous, soulful voice so her performance will be perfect for the calming surroundings of the hotel’s conservatory and Italian garden.
We’ve no doubt DJ Ziggy and Pete ‘Bongo’ Williams will get everyone dancing during the evening reception!
We have all types of genres and bands, everything from the ‘Madchester’ era to Irish bands, to Motown, to modern pop, dance and indie-festival vibes!
The song that will end the night will be ‘Sweet Caroline’ by Neil Diamond - a song associated with Bolton Wanderers, Kelly’s football team, whilst the song before will be Stone Roses ‘Waterfall’ for David’s beloved Man Utd.
What would be your advice for anyone currently planning a wedding?
It can feel quite overwhelming at first but stay calm, communicate with and involve each other on decisions, have faith in your ideas and trust in your suppliers (after all they do it professionally, every day!) It comes around quickly so enjoy the process and try to chip away at plans each day; we found a spreadsheet helped us keep organised and keep track of everything. Remember, it’s your day so do it your way and have fun with it!
Keep an eye on our social media pages for more updates about David & Kelly's big day...
With thanks to all of our suppliers:
Flowers - www.wildflowersuk.co.uk
Photography - www.georgiebeck.com
Wedding Cake - www.everycloudcakesandbakes.co.uk
Venue Styling - www.ambiencevenuestyling.com/wedding-stylists/bradford-halifax/